


Remember

by CrackedSkel



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Allusions to Graphic Death, Angst, Attempted mugging, Blood and Violence, Comic Spoilers, Death, Drugging, Flashbacks, Forgetting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Loss, Mentions of Comic Canon, Mentions of graphic violence, Missing Limb, Nightmares, Non-Graphic Arm Removal, Old Friends Comic, Other, Post-Canon Fix-It, Regeneration, Tattoos, The Corsair Survived, Touch Telepathy, remembering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-23 08:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23342257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrackedSkel/pseuds/CrackedSkel
Summary: "What do you do when .... when they're gone?""Well... I suppose I mourn, I miss them .... and I remember."The Corsair decided to take the Doctor's advice. Get themselves a human ... they never thought that it would end up like this.
Relationships: Past Irving Braxiatel/The Corsair, The Corsair/Original Character, The Corsair/Thirteenth Doctor
Kudos: 23





	Remember

**Author's Note:**

> This... kind of went on a tangent. It started with reading the Doctor saying 'I shouldn't be the only one who remembers you' and well... this happened. I'm sorry.  
> This is the first fic I'm posting on here, please be kind.  
> Beta read buy the lovely sparklypuppy05

_There was a whoosh, followed by a crash, and everything was still and silent. One could hear a pin drop._

_Amy turned to the Doctor. “Okay… where are we?”_

_“Outside the universe.” The Doctor replied, his hands still on the TARDIS’ controls. He turned to his companions, “Where we’ve never, ever been.”_

_There was a quiet, humming sound followed by silence once again as the lights in the TARDIS dimmed before going out completely. The Doctor frowned and looked quite concerned, his eyebrows furrowing as he flicked switches and tried to do something to fix it. “Is that supposed to be happening?” Rory asked, looking just as concerned as the Doctor._

_“The power,” The Doctor said, still trying to do something to get the TARDIS back online. “It’s draining. Everything’s draining.” His eyes widened, “Wait… but it can’t. T-that’s impossible!”_

_“What’s that?” Rory asked warily._

_“The Matrix.” The Doctor said slowly, stepping away from the console and turning to his humans. “The soul of the TARDIS… It’s gone; vanished. Where - where’s it gone? Where would it have gone?” He shook his head and turned to the door._

_They stepped outside, and the Doctor stepped away, looking at the crashed pieces of spaceship around the junkyard. He looked thoughtful._

_“So, what kind of trouble’s your friend in?” Amy asked, stepping up next to him._

_The Doctor turned to her. “He was in a bind. Bit of a pickle… sort of… distressed.”_

_Amy crossed her arms over her chest. “You could have said you didn’t know.”_

x

The Corsair’s chest heaved as he woke up in a daze on the floor of his TARDIS, the helm of the ship wheel only a few feet away. Pain burned where his arm met his shoulder and he reached over to grab it when he froze. He grasped at the bloody shirt sleeve and pain rattled through his body so fiercely that it made him feel sick. He sat up and turned to the side and threw up. His TARDIS hummed her disapproval above him as he gagged, not in the mood to put up with her right now.

Vaguely and in a deep, far off corner of his mind he wondered if the people that he’d cut the arms off felt this much pain. He gagged again and hesitantly pulled himself onto his feet. He turned around, looking for something – someone. He didn’t quite remember.

The haze of pain and something else clouded his mind. He was alone on the deck of his Time Ship, standing in a pool of his own blood. His hearts stuttered, and he fell to his knees again. He looked down at his hand, covered in his own blood and… the blood of something he knew wasn’t his. Golden light started to rise from his hand.

“Well,” He hummed and winced at the crack in the voice and the pain from a damaged throat. “Let’s get this over with then.” Golden light exploded from his skin and burnt the wooden floor underneath him, tore at the sails and the railings, and when they fell forward into their pile of blood again, long, silky ginger hair fell over their head and into their eyes.

Hm. Female again, then. She sat back on her heels, feeling slow, and dizzy as one often did when regenerating.

Ice gripped her hearts when she realised.

She was still missing an arm.

x

_The Doctor stepped away from the shelf of Time Lord messaging cubes, turning around to Auntie and Uncle, rage simmering in his hearts. “Just admiring your Time Lord distress signal collection.” He paced away. “Nice job. Brilliant job. Really thought I had some friends here.” He resisted the urge to raise his voice. “This is what the Ood translator picked up. The cries for help from the … long dead.” His shoulders tensed. “How many Time Lords have you lured here the way you lured me?” His anger was barely restrained as he continued “… and what happened to them all?”_

_Auntie shifted a little, “House,” She replied, standing up straighter. “House is kind, and he is wise.”_

_“House repairs you when you break,” The Doctor nodded, examining them. “I know that. But how…” He paused, “You have the eyes of a twenty-year-old.” He said, realisation dawning in him._

_“Thank you,” Uncle responded, puffing up a little with the apparent praise._

_“No.” The Doctor shook his head, “Oh, no, no. I mean it literally.” He stepped closer, “Your eyes, they’re thirty years younger than the rest of you.” He pointed at them. “Your ears don’t match; your right arm is two inches longer than your left. How’s your dancing? Because you have_ two left feet _!” He scowled. “Patchwork people. You’ve been repaired and patched up so often … I doubt there’s anything of who you used to be left at this point.”_

_The Doctor turned to look at Auntie, and his hearts dropped into his stomach. Auntie noticed his gaze and lifted her arm. “Oh… this has been a great arm for me this.”_

_The Doctor gulped, his eyes on the ouroboros tattoo on the arm. “Corsair.” He breathed._

_“He was a big, strapping bloke, wasn’t he, Uncle?” Auntie nodded, turning to look at him._

_Uncle nodded in response. “Big fellow.”_

_“He came with some other person. Young thing.” Auntie hummed, “I got the arm and Uncle got the spine and kidneys.”_

_“Kidneys.” Uncle nodded, putting his hands on his sides._

_The Doctor let out a long, shaky breath as anger boiled to the surface. When he spoke, his voice was cool and calm but there was rage, deep in his tone. “You gave me hope, and then you took it away.” He stepped forwards, “that's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me.” He said in his soft, dangerous tone. “Basically, run!” He shouted._

x

A few days had passed. The Corsair had recovered from her sudden regeneration and her memories that had led to the event had returned. House, the sentient, dangerous asteroid in pocket universe, snatching and stealing Time Lords and TARDISes. The Corsair knew that she been lucky to escape with her life.

Her companion. Her friend …

They hadn’t made it.

It hurt to dwell on her loss, and her hearts seized with pain whenever she thought about them. She remembered, with a flash of pain what had happened, and she rested her hand across her chest and swallowed hard several times. Is this what the Doctor felt, when she lost someone? Everyone that the Doctor had lost. How had she done it? How could she bear this pain and smile and just … remember?

Corsair missed them deeply, missed their presence in the TARDIS, the constant teasing about falling overboard… it was too quiet in the TARDIS these days and the Corsair still expected to see them over her shoulder playing another one of their pranks.

But they were gone now.

And the Corsair was alone.

x

_The Corsair stepped away from the TARDIS’s window where the Star Whale was flying contentedly out in the Stellar Net. “They’re good ones, these new friends of yours.”_

_The Doctor looked over at her from the console. “That they are.” She stepped over to the other Time Lord and rest her hand on the Corsair’s chest and pointed a finger at her, giving her a small smile. “You could always find some friends for yourself. Someone to travel with.”_

_“Oh, but that would involve responsibility.” The Corsair laughed and rested her hand over the Doctor’s hand. “And who wants that?”_

_“More responsibility than saving one of the last star whales?” The Doctor prompted with a teasing smirk, flicking her head towards the Star Whale swimming just outside. “…or trying to return stolen treasures to their rightful homes?”_

_Throwing her hands up, the Corsair turned. “It’s just that friends…_ the sort that you’re talking about _…they’re fragile. And…” She sighed, dropping her arms down. “And temporary.” She looked over her shoulder at the Doctor. “What do you do when they… when they’re gone?”_

_“Well,” The Doctor looked down. “I suppose I mourn them. I miss them.” She looked up and grinned. “And I remember.”_

x

The loss of her friend wasn’t the only thing that was affecting her… the loss of her arm. She wasn’t quite sure why she hadn’t regained it when she had regenerated, but suspected it was because the limb was in the pocket universe … or something. Perhaps it was because it was attached to one of House’s puppets. It was difficult, coming to terms with it. Things were harder, and it took longer to do things – steering her TARDIS, in particular.

She thought on the Doctor. Her sad eyes when they had parted so long ago for her now. When she wanted help with a heist. Had the Doctor known about House? About what was going to happen to her? The Corsair tried not to dwell on those thoughts, however, now that she was alone, the thought of the Doctor and her Humans.

The fun that she had with all of them. Sighing deeply and stepped closer to the wheel of her TARDIS, taking it with her one had and humming quietly under her breath.

Her companion was gone, and there was nothing that she could do about that. They were on her mind, almost always at the forefront, and it made her chest ache. She couldn’t do _anything_ to save them now, as much as she wanted too … but she could mourn them, miss them… and remember them. It was the least she could do, considering what they did for her.

The Corsair closed her eyes and her grip on the wheel slackened slightly, and she wondered if the Doctor would even care to see her. Would even know who she was.

Stricken by a sudden thought, she stripped off her shirt and searched herself, turning around as she searched for her ouroboros. Well. That wouldn’t do. She couldn’t exactly be _the Corsair_ without that. Humming once more under her breath her grip tightened once more on the wheel of her TARDIS as she set course for the nearest planet. She had a tattoo to get. 

x

_Earth was lovely. The Corsair knew this was the reason that the Doctor loved it so much. The Corsair stepped down off her ship, parked in a spare part of the harbour. The perception filter would keep the humans from noticing it, but it was still locked. She wouldn’t need to worry._

_She strode through the streets, catching the attention of several humans, as she would, being that she was dressed as a ‘pirate’ in the terms of the humans … and the cutlass at her hip was probably drawing attention as well. She didn’t even know why she was here, really._

_The Doctor had told her to get a friend. Someone to travel with. She hadn’t really known why, but it did sound like a good idea. Those three humans of the Doctor were good people, nice friends._

_…It would be a nice to have a friend to pull along on whatever adventures she chose to have… that, and another pair of hands would help with her future heists._

_The Corsair wondered how the Doctor choose her humans as she gazed around at the humans walking past her. She pursed her lips as she took them in. There was a man across the street leering at her and a group of teenagers were having a fag in the alleyway that she passed by. An elderly woman was slowly making her way down the sidewalk on slow, wobbly legs, leaning heavily into a walker._

_They were all so…_ boring _. Earth was boring. It was lovely; she wouldn’t mind admitting that, but it was boring. Continuing down the streets, the Corsair spied into shop windows, wondering if there was anything good enough to swipe. The humans wouldn’t mind, right? They wouldn’t even notice._

_Deep in thought, the Corsair didn’t notice the tall, hulking human until she ran into him. He turned to her with a sneer and his eyes flicked down her body. She studied him with contempt. He pulled out a knife and the Corsair raised her eyebrows. “Okay, baby,” He said, and the Corsair almost laughed. “You’re going to give me all your money, and you’re going to do it quietly.”_

_Before the Corsair could laugh in his face and punch him in the jaw, another human came up behind him and walloped him right where the Corsair would have aimed. The Time Lord’s eyebrows shot up and she turned to look at the human that had just decked her would-be mugger. They were shaking slightly, high on adrenaline. Their eyes were bright and full of stars._

_It was then the Corsair realised how the Doctor picked her humans._

x

The Doctor that the Corsair had met when saving the star whale had been older than her. She just hoped that the other Time Lord had survived house because Stars knows that she almost didn’t. Thinking on House and thinking of her companion made her chest ache. She missed them so much.

She didn’t know how the Doctor did it over, and over again.

The Corsair spent most of her time in pubs in various places around the universe, often drinking away her sorrows, and despite the Doctor’s advice, to _forget_ the companion she had lost – left behind.

She had been angry at first when she had recovered from her regeneration. Angry that she had let her companion do that. Angry that her human hadn’t fled when they had the chance, that they’d died and left her alone.

Someone stepped up to the bar, but the Corsair didn’t look up, head down as she wallowed. She wasn’t drunk, nor was she tipsy, but pretending to do so often made people leave her alone.

“One, please.”

The Corsair jumped and lifted her gaze over to the newcomer. The Doctor. She hadn’t expected to see her, hadn’t expected to even hear from her again. Warmth stirred in her chest, melting the ice that had frozen over since leaving House, since regenerating.

She stared, unashamed at the Doctor, taking her in. It had been so long since she’d seen her, but she didn’t know when the last time the Doctor had seen her.

The Doctor turned, obviously noticing the eyes on her. The Corsair’s breath caught in her throat. She looked so sad. So broken. Something had happened and the Doctor looked just as broken as she was. The Corsair gave her a wry smile and turned on her stool again.

“Well, Doctor.” The Corsair said with an air of confidence. She grinned when the Doctor tilted her head in confusion and her face scrunched up just a bit. She felt her face heating up and she cleared her throat. “Long time no see, old friend.” She gave a wink and pulled away the collar of the shirt she was wearing so the Doctor could see her ouroboros tattoo on her collarbone. It was black but there were gold scales on the snake.

The Doctor’s eyes grew wide and she almost fell back off her stool. “Corsair?” She breathed, unable to believe what she was seeing.

The Corsair winked, “Got it in one.” She laughed, echoing the same words that the Doctor had said to her, but frowned when she saw that the Doctor was starting to cry. “Well,” She said a little awkwardly. “I think an explanation is needed, yes?”

x

_“Corsair!”_

_“Human!”_

_The Corsair turned as her human ran up to them, a smile on her face. It soon faded as she saw the fear on her human’s face and her gaze went behind them and widened._

_“What on Earth did you steal this time?” She demanded as her human passed her, grabbing her wrist as she passed, dragging her along and back towards the TARDIS._

_“Nothing! I swear!”_

_“Human…” The Corsair laughed as energy bolts hit the ground beside them. “Whatever it is, it must be expensive. Come on then!” She sped up and pulled her companion back to the TARDIS._

_The ship was at the docks, bobbing gently in the deep indigo water, waiting for her pilot to return. The Corsair recalled a conversation with her companion at one point about the size of her ship and smiled to herself. They’d asked about getting closer to places, smaller areas where a great bloody big ship couldn’t fit (considering that the Captain’s Cabin was bigger on the inside like most TARDIS’s) The Corsair had just laughed and commented about pirates being cool._

_As they ran, more lasers burnt the ground on each side of them and:_

_“Like Storm Troopers this lot!” Her companion cheered and she laughed out loud. “Couldn’t hit the broad side of your ship if it was stopped!”_

_“Hey!” Corsair laughed and pulled her companion closer as they continued running, her ship starting to loom in the distance. “There’s nothing wrong with the size of my ship, come on!”_

_Luckily, and despite how glaringly obvious her TARDIS was (according to her human) there were no guards waiting for them outside of her ship and the two ran up and onto the deck. The Corsair dived at her wheel and they left the planet. Once they were in the safety of the vortex, the Corsair burst into laughter and was soon followed by her companion._

_“Okay,” She turned to them, still shaking from laughter. “What did you steal?”_

_Her companion was still laughing lightly, and they sighed a smile on their face. “Fine,” they reached into their pocket and pulled a ring out. It was simple and beautiful, and the Corsair recognised it as the ring she had once been hired to steal and return to its rightful owner. She had tried and gotten kicked off the planet for her troubles. She didn’t even know that her companion knew about that._

_Her companion looked sheepish as they stepped closer. “You told me during one of our pub crawls about this.” They explained, “I saw it, and I thought that I could grab it … and you could finish that mission of yours.” Their gaze was cheeky, teasing._

_The Corsair plucked the ring from the outstretched hand and grabbed their other one and slipped it on their human’s ring finger. “I’m sure they won’t miss it for a little while longer.”_

_With her other arm, she wrapped it around her human’s waist and said their name softly._

_They stared at her, eyes wide and unblinking. “Corsair?” They breathed, their eyes unconsciously flicking to the Time Lord’s lips._

_The Corsair grinned, and closed the distance, kissing their human soundly._

x

They sat in the TARDIS library, across from each other. Neither of them had said anything since coming back into the TARDIS. The Doctor didn’t seem to know what to say. The Corsair was _alive_ and here in front of her and she was missing an arm.

“I took your advice.” The Corsair broke the silence between the two of them.

The Doctor tilted her head, unable to remember just what the Corsair was talking about.

“I took a companion. A friend. A human.” She said, looking down at the ground. The Doctor recognised her expression and rested her hand on the Corsair’s one.

“…You lost them, didn’t you? What happened?”

The Corsair shook her head, her voice catching in her throat. She just nodded, unable to bring herself to speak.

“I don’t want to remember what happened.” She whispered; her voice choked.

The Doctor stood and moved so she was sitting next to the Corsair and pulled her into a hug. The Corsair wrapped her arm around the Doctor in response and hid her face into the other Time Lord’s shoulder, relishing in her comfort.

x

_A small, glowing white cube was sitting on the wheel of his TARDIS. His companion watched as his face contorted in confusion, and then curiosity and then worry as he snatched it up. His fingers danced over the glowing surface and he let out a quiet, nervous breath. For a moment, his human was worried that the cube would shatter in the Corsair’s grip. He was big in this body, they thought, and remembered fondly that the Corsair hadn’t been aware of his own strength after his regeneration._

_He was more aware of it now, but they remembered the few times that they had embraced in the early days the Corsair had nearly broken their back._

_The companion’s thoughts snapped back to the Corsair, who had now tossed the cube away and was gripping the wheel to his TARDIS with white knuckles. He was mumbling under his breath and his face was as white as a sheet. They stepped closer and touched his arm. He jumped._

_He said their name with a sigh, looking pained as if only now just realising that they were there. This companion frowned. They knew that the Corsair knew their name, but it was rare that he called them by it. ‘Human’ coming from the Corsair was affectionate and they knew they only called them by their name when something was_ very _wrong._

_They studied him carefully. The Corsair’s eyes were wide, worried and brimming with something that they couldn’t recognise studied his face. He turned his eyes away and looked over to the cube. “S-someone, another Time Lord needs my help.” He explained, working his jaw as he struggled to explain to his companion. “See,” He said, turning back to his wheel. “Time Lords… they use these cubes as an Emergency call system to other Time Lords. For them to have sent this…”_

_“You talk like you know who sent it.” Their companion said in a quiet voice and by the pain on the Corsair’s face and the way that his muscles tensed under their grip, they knew they were right._

_The Corsair looked over at the discarded cube, and their fingers played against the wheel of their TARDIS. “I do.” He said quietly but offered no other explanation. “Let me drop you home first. This is likely to be very dangerous.” His voice wavered._

_“No,” His companion gripped at his arm and tugged and despite not moving an inch, he felt struck by their words. “I joined you for adventure and for fun. Your people need you. This person you know needs you, and you can’t do this alone. What if you get caught in whatever this is?”_

_The Corsair blinked at them. He cleared his throat and turned away so his companion wouldn’t see his expression. “Okay. You can come. But you do as I say and stay with me.”_

-

 _The asteroid was small, and upon a scan, the Corsair decided that it would be better if he didn’t land his TARDIS directly on the surface … for her safety. With what he could see… he was afraid. He didn’t know quite what he was looking at … but he was_ afraid.

 _Carcasses, parts and pieces of TARDISes everywhere and just the sight of him made his hearts stutter and freeze in his chest. He turned to his companion and nodded to them. He had_ borrowed _a vortex manipulator from the Time Agency at one point and had always intended on giving it back. A short hop to the asteroid would be easy._

 _He turned to his companion, gazing at him with determination and a complete lack of fear. “Remember. Stay close to me, and if anything happens to me, you_ get out. _The TARDIS will take you home.” He strapped the vortex manipulator to his companion’s wrist and squeezed her arms. He programmed the vortex manipulator and the two of them flashed onto the surface of the Asteroid._

_Green light hummed under their feet and the Corsair turned to look at his companion. “Stay close to me.” He told them, gazing around. “This place… is dangerous.”_

_A voice echoed around the two of them, and Corsair stepped closer to his companion. “_ You didn’t bring your TARDIS.” _The voice hummed, sounding quite annoyed. “_ Why did you come here, Time Lord? _”_

_With a too-tight grip on his companion’s shoulder he turned, looking for the source of the voice. “You should know,” He said darkly, “with all of these TARDIS carcasses.” He turned around, pulling his human closer._

_The voice let out a low chuckle. “_ You are quite smart, really. Much smarter than the others. _” A green gas rose from the ground where they were standing and the Corsair yanked their companion away, but they were both caught in it. His human started coughing violently and he started feeling a little sick. Green encroached on his vision and his knees gave way as he collapsed. The chuckling voice of the invisible entity echoing as he passed out._

_-_

_When the Corsair woke up, he was in a cage and his companion was on the other side. He let out a breath, glad that they were… alive. He didn’t want to say_ safe _, because at this point, he didn’t know what was going to happen. He looked up as he heard scuffling footsteps and he scowled as he saw a man walk in. The Corsair studied him with narrowed eyes. He had two left feet, and his breath was stuttering in his chest. He was half slumped over. He shuffled closer and looked up as he realised that the Corsair was awake._

_“Oh!” he gasped, “You’re awake! Good, House will be happy. It’s time to start the procedure.”_

_The Corsair hardly heard him. His eyes were on the coat that he was wearing. He knew that coat. He knew that coat all too well. Rage burned in his chest and in one motion he was on his feet and rattling the bars of the cage he was in._

_“Where did you get that coat!?” He shouted, rage burning in his eyes._

_Uncle flinched, but looked down at his coat, a cruel smile coming to his face. “Oh, some Time Lord that came by. The last one, I think. Prissy bloke, all about rules and order. His mind was quite strong, but he succumbed to House just like you and your little friend will.”_

_Rattling the cage once more. “What was his name?” The Corsair seethed._

_Uncle shifted his feet, seemingly unbothered by the Corsair’s anger. “Raxitel .... Braxitel something.” He responded with a shrug._

_The Corsair’s expression fell, and he stepped back as if he had been physically struck. “No…” He whispered, and surged forward again, “NO!” He shouted smashing into the cage, and the metal buckled and bent under his fist. Uncle jumped and fled the room._

_“Corsair?” His human breathed behind him and he turned, tears running down his face as his rage simmered at the surface. “What happened?”_

_“We need to go. We need to go, now!” He told them, pulling them up in one motion as he hit the cage with his shoulder, and it broke down. He didn’t have time to be satisfied as he pulled his human out of the room and back into the junkyard. The green gas had started rising from the ground again, blocking their path._

_“_ Are you trying to flee from me? _” The voice breathed, seemingly coming from the pulsing smoke. It sounded quite annoyed. “_ I am this asteroid. You can’t get away from me. _”_

_“Just watch me.” The Corsair snarled, and pulled his companion away, down through another doorway. His human followed behind him. He could feel their grip on his hand, the tenseness of their muscles he knew they were scared, and he was internally kicking himself for letting them talk him into bringing them here._

_In searching for a way out, he heard the voices. He knew he didn’t have time; the creature was all around him and he knew there was no way out. He found the cupboard._

_He found all the Time Lord’s messages. He felt_ sick. _This human was quiet next to him, unsure what was happening but recognising the cubes from the one on his TARDIS. The Corsair let out a shuddering breath. He needed to … he needed to get away, get out of here._

_…_

_He needed to stop House and couldn’t do it alone. He snatched up one of the cubes and closed his eyes as he put a psychic message onto the cube. “_ If you are receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Tell them that I am still alive. I don't know where I am. _” An ouroboros appeared on the side of the cube and it shot off through a hole in the roof and disappeared._

_“Corsair!” Their human breathed, panic and worry filling their tone and he turned, the green gas was coming into the room again, and they were trapped._

_They said their human’s name. “I’m sorry.”_

-

_His chest heaved as he woke. Someone was screaming. Was it him? He didn’t know. Agony laced down his arm – his arm? He tried to move it, but nothing happened. He rolled off what he was laying on and hit the ground. Something was wrong. Something was so, so wrong. Hands grabbed him and he fought against them._

_“It’s me!” His human shouted. “Me!” He relaxed, but only slightly, peeling his eyes open. They were covered in blood, but their eyes were wide, afraid. He couldn’t tell where they were bleeding … there was so much. His mind was so muddled. He couldn’t tell what was happening. All he could feel was pain and fear and the look in his companion’s eyes wasn’t help with clearing his head._

_They were gripping his wrist, panicked, sloppy movements, affixing the vortex manipulator onto his wrist. Someone else – something else came into the room and started shouting something. They crossed their room and their human became more panicked. “Corsair, go! GO!”_

_Corsair wanted to argue; he thought he was arguing._

_Then something happened._

_Something horrible._

_A sharp object was suddenly thrust through_ his _human’s chest. They gasped, and the Corsair screamed. His human gave him a tired, sad smile and squeezed the Vortex Manipulator and the world vanished in an instant._

x

The Corsair woke with a scream. She sat up and grasped at the lingering, phantom pains that came from the horrible dream. The horrible memory.

The door to her room burst open and the Doctor stepped inside, dressed as she always did and if the Corsair had been less panicked over a dream she would have wondered if the Doctor had slept at all.

Letting out shaky, panicked breaths as she brought one knee to her chest, the Doctor stepped over and lightly touched her shoulder, the Corsair could feel the Doctor prodding at her mind, willing her to calm down and she lent closer to the other Time Lord.

“House.” The Corsair whispered after a few moments. “House drew me in with a m-message from-” She cut herself off purposefully. She didn’t want the Doctor to know whose message cube she had received. “He attacked me, took my arm…” He shook his head, “I sent a message out but when – when I realised the true danger, I realised that I would be leading any other Time Lords into a trap.” She scrubbed at her face and lent against the Doctor.

“I’m sorry.” The Corsair whispered, turning into the Doctor’s embrace and closing her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Doctor."


End file.
